Legacies and Fulfilled Dreams
by HVK
Summary: Set in my Finn-Thor continuity; while on a sorta-date with Bubblegum, Finn sees a statue of the reknowned Saint Wagner and has a Thor moment to remember the mutant hero Nightcrawler, and acknowledges that the dream he died for came true. Also, Fubblegum.


Another day, another Finn-Thor one-shot. (Wait, I did two of them in one day!) Another Finn-Thor oneshot based on one of the most powerful things I feel this continuity has to offer; the Marvelverse's effect on Ooo. In this case, I was inspired by a line from the extremely good series Earth X, and my feeling that of all things, the dream of Xavier and the X-Men came true: given the sheer diversity of beings in Ooo and the apparent lack of racism or other nasty stuff, the X-Men did their job. XAVIER WAS RIGHT AND HIS DREAM CAME TRUE. (And Magneto would be happy.)

Also, I just really really like Nightcrawler, and I felt that him being a saint of Ooo's primier religion would be a really sweet cosmic acknowledgement of everything the elf ever did. (I'm not sure that Thor has ever even met Nightcrawler, but I thought: why not? My version of the Marvelverse and it's eventual evolution into Ooo has it's own mini-continuity, so I figure as long as I don't mess up with canon too much things are cool.)

Attentive readers might note a few of my head-canon concepts in this one-shot. Among them, Bubblegum is a LOT older than she looks; the Marvel era is known but only very generally to Ooo and even then mostly to serious scholars; Captain America's death kicked off the bad feelings that started the Great Mushroom War; and also I like Fubblegum.

Disclaimer: I fail the fandom in not owning Marvel or Adventure Time, but I'm sure I'll get over it.

...

His footsteps echoed awesomely in this particular hallway in the Candy Kingdom's most elaborate church to Glob, and Finn practically bounced with each and every other step as Bubblegum cheerfully explained every little historical detail that caught her interest.

The fact that the older woman's hand firmly grasped his own, ostenibly to keep him from accidentally wandering off and getting lost and interrupting their not-a-date (and both of them were quite clear on this, as much as many people didn't really believe a word of it, and in truth neither did they but appearances had to count for something) was a bit of a distraction, too, and helped curbed some of his usual world-aimed enthusiasm.

Finn's roving eyes moved through the statues of great heroes and saints who had spent their lives doing the work of Glob for all sentient beings (and Finn thought that 'sentient' was a goofy word that ought to just mean 'people' ) and focused on a particular statue that formed the corner of a hallway right where everyone would see it. "Hey, Peebles," He said aloud, pointed at that statue that suddenly seemed so familiar and so important. "Who's that?"

"Hrm?" Bubblegum looked up at what he indicated. The statue in question, nestled in it's little alcove of grandness and disdaining the traditional solemn robes and hood associated with holy workers, was that of an incredibly friendly and kindly-grinning humanoid that might have looked daemonic if not for the infectious cheer in his shameless smile and dressed in an outlandish costume right out of a circus performance, his arms spread wide as if for a hug offered to anyone that needed one, three-digited hands open welcomingly. The sculptor had managed to convey the short and dense fur that had covered the man in life, and paint to illustrate the dark texture and the riotous shade of blue that colored both skin and fur only to be contrasted by the sun-warm yellow of his eyes. Pointed ears like an elf, oddly shaped prehensile feet like a tree-dweller, and a long tail curling behind him. It was traditional for most statues of this sort to have a name plaque, so it was unusual to see that there was none, as if anyone looking upon him ought to know who this man was. "Oh, yes! This is surely one of the Candy Kingdom's most beloved treasures! A statue of one of the first saints of the Church of Glob, if not _the _first! I believe it was made sometime before even I was created, and I've heard tell of one of the earlier socities made between humans and the other beings that arose after civilization began rebuilding."

"This guy was one of them?"

"No," Bubblegum said, looking thoughtful and even a bit awed. "This statue was made somewhere around that time, before the Lich destroyed that particular society. It survived that particular trouble and was rediscovered by some of the first Candy People I made. They refurbished it quite nicely and I thought it deserved it's own special place right here."

Most of this talk went right over Finn's head, history never being of much interest to him. "But who is it? Shouldn't there, I dunno, be a think that says stuff like who it was?"

Bubblegum gave him a surprised look. "You honestly don't know who it is?"

"Nuh uh," Finn said, shaking his head and certainly not one for statue information. "Was he someone important."

"Oh, _yes_. If my research into the ancient times of heroes is true...his work laid the foundation for so many of the good things we take for granted today." Bubblegum stared at the statue for a moment, lost in arcane facts gleaned from the mess that was myth and legend made from tangled up history a thousand years old.

When she spoke, her usual cheer had dimmed to great solemnness. "His name was Saint Wagner." She frowned in thought, and added, "Saint Kurt Wagner."

A shock ran through Finn and he quite unwittingly let go of her hand, his mouth wide in sub-conscious recognition, as if an old friend he'd forgotten about had suddenly stopped by. Bubblegum looked down at him, concerned and surprised.

For a moment, Finn stared into empty air, stirring ancient memories from before there had ever been Finn but quite a different hero indeed. After a moment, godly tides trying to surge up into his conscious mind, he managed to say a single thing that popped right into his brain. "Everyone called him Nightcrawler."

It was blunt and blurted and took him by total surprise, strange and unfamiliar sensations moving in his brain, almost-memories too distant to be clear. Bubblegum looked down at him in astonishment. "I...yes! I read that a lot of the stories from the Age of Marvels called him that, but I never knew you were interested in that."

Finn laughed shakily, a thought of '_But I was there!_' protesting for a moment and shocking him with it's impossible-ness. "Oh, you know me, Peebs! Always into the big-time heroes!"

"But of course!" Bubblegum agreed. She gave him a fond look. "You know, I think I have one of the most comprehensive stores of information about that era! If you think you'd like a look...?"

"Sure, yeah, that'd be awesome," Finn agreed, and Bubblegum virtually jumped and giggled in place, only just managing to restrain herself with a happy smile. "Um...do you think you mind waiting a bit? I kinda want a better look at this statue. Thought I saw it before, and, uh..." Finn laughed nervously, an absolutely horrible liar.

Bubblegum understood. "That's quite all right. I'll wait for you up ahead!" She walked away, humming to herself and occasionally stealing fond glance back at him, as quick as flashes of thunder and smiling like a fool the whole time, almost hungrily and certainly affectionate.

He watched her go and smiled, but the call of the ancient memories the statue inspired in him became strong once she was out of sight, and then it was just him and this ancient memory of a bygone hero. He stared at the statue for a moment longer before anything of import happened.

He closed his eyes, breathing in deep, and the World breathed with him. When he opened his eyes, it was not Finn the human that looked out, but someone far older and mightier, the storm rendered into flesh, and at his core still the same as the boy.

Memories played across his mind, and these were the memories of the Thunder God who had been there when the Sentinels had been loosed by men and women with no appreciation for what it meant to be human, the one who had fought besides mutated humans who fought and died to protect a world that hated and feared them, who had stood side by side them as a brother in arms and living embodiment of the hope that had been the true spirit of the Age of Marvels that lingered even now, in the ultimate death of the inclination to judge by species and the unification of sentient life regardless of shape and form.

And, perhaps most fittingly of all, he had been the one who had been the sole vanguard when shortly before the Mushroom War, the tensions between superhumans and ordinary humans had died in the wake of the final death of Steve Rogers (_the Captain of Hopes and the Dream, _a stray thought echoed, winding sadly to itself) had risen and broken into all-out war, and the mutants had fled into outer space with a promise to one day return home when the world would be kinder, and it had been him who had fought off the genocide army sent to cut them down, him who had saved mutantkind.

And him who now lived in a world of mutants, and that there no longer existed words to seperate 'mutant' from 'baseline'.

When Finn spoke, it was the voice and will of Thor that rendered his respects. "You did it," he whispered, voice choked and weeping unashamedly. "You and your X-Men's dream became real. Xavier was _right_, and now the world lives what you died for. There are no more lines drawn between the sand; those of humanity that remain live in peace with one another, treating each other as one of their own." For a moment he thought of Susan Strong, almost surely a human living among mutated humanoids, a champion and hero to them, and he smiled even through the tears.

For a long time, the God of Thunder ensouled in human flesh gazed upon this statue of the man who had been born Kurt Wagner, had lived and loved and fought and died as Nightcrawler, and now more than a milennia after his death, no one ever knew that Saint Wagner spent his life tormented and hounded by his fellow humanity for his happenstance resemblence to a demon, that he had been thought ugly, that if he hadn't grown up in the circus he would almost certainly have been killed for looking like a monster.

Now, people only knew that he had lived his life for others, first to entertain them with his legendary skills of acrobatics and daring, and then fighting to defeat villains of immense power alongside his team-family of heroes. He was a symbol of his age, an herald of the times that were now Ooo, and Thor considered that the ultimate victory.

The Dream of Xavier made flesh, a man whose incredible strength of character meant that looking like what everyone considered a demon had ultimately meant _nothing_.

"Yes," Thor whispered, and the echoes of a time that might have been passed through him. "The fight ended a long time ago. Now, they are all equal. One way or another, regardless of what they might have been or may have become, the humans of the world have become a thousand different peoples and kingdoms, and not a single one of them has lived out Magneto's greatest fears.

"Now, everyone is just people."

Thor had seen the works of many gods, and greater forces besides, and half-expected the statue to blink, or wink, or in some way acknowledge what he had said. There was none, of course; there was not magic here in this holy place except that what the simple truth of sanctity and the power of goodness gave it, and honest miracles were rarely so unsubtle.

Even so, Thor knew, absolutely _knew_, that he had been heard, and somewhere at the other end his message had been heard, and that there was great joy there.

Thor smiled and left, following where his friend and love Bubblegum had gone, and then it was not Thor but Finn who met with her and resumed the day, but it was a minor matter, for in the end they were ultimately the same.

And after all, Finn thought later before wondered where the thought or the strange but wondrous names had come from, the dream of the Uncanny X-Men had come true but the work of the Mighty Thor and the Avengers was a never-ending adventure.

And that, Thor knew, was the best future he could have asked for.


End file.
